Technology in the Assessment of Voice Disorder

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to describe salient technologies available for assessing patients with disorders of voice. Measurements of jitter, shimmer, harmonic-to-noise ratio, fundamental frequency of the speaking voice, basal frequency, ceiling frequency, computation of pitch range, speaking intensity, intensity increase potential, vital capacity, laryngeal airflow during phonation, and laryngeal videoendoscopy-stroboscopy are covered. Some of the common instruments available to measure these voice components are described. Clinical case examples are provided to illustrate the importance of technology in the assessment of patients with voice disorder.

KEY WORDS

dysphonia - instrumental measures - voice assessment